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1569 turns · 1 hr 58 minMark Dirran is a former member of the Special Air Service Regiment who served for 20 years in the Australian Army. Mark enlisted in the Australian Army in 1993. After completing infantry training, he was posted to 1 RAR. While serving as an infantry sniper, he completed the demanding SAS selection process in 1997. Mark deployed on operations including security operations, uh, in 2000 for the Sydney Olympic Games, East Timor, and five combat deployments to Afghanistan.
Arriving at Bagram Air Base-
Yeah
... that sort of even just in 2002, that was dwarfing-
Yeah
... anything I'd seen in a, in a military context. The, the size of the base, the military that was there, looking, getting briefings, operational briefings on what was going on around the country. It was like th- this is like America has, has brought everything-
Yeah
... to try and solve this problem. Now, the capabilities of the enemy that we were gonna f- we were expecting to face in Afghanistan ha- had the potential to be a lot bigger. I mean, a lot of the Australian military, we've had thousands. Uh, it was, it was like nearly 50,000 Australians I think served in Afghanistan.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
But the vast majority of them fought in the war.
Yeah.
They lived inside a, a FOB, and they didn't get the opportunity to go out and be greeted-
Mm
... by these Afghan people because the Afghan people themselves were also scared-
Yeah
... of what the Taliban might do if, if they sat down and just had a conversation with a, with a foreigner.
Mm.
And so I was able to do that, uh, as a, in a civilian capacity, as a security consultant, um, which was great. Drive around Kabul and visit people and talk to them. On the day that I got blown up, I remember very clearly, um, not the noise. Um, I don't remember hearing anything.
Yeah.
Um, but I r- I could reme- I didn't go unconscious and I can... You know, time slows down.
Yeah.
That real high threat moment. Um, I actually think I can remember the dust engulfing me. Um, and I can remember being in the air-
Yeah
... and seeing the car like a couple of meters off the ground.
Welcome to the One True Measure podcast. I'm your host, Blake O'Connell. Each week, we get the opportunity to talk to some pretty exceptional people and, and each week we get to talk to about this, them about this concept of an individual journey to define success, this individual, um, measure of success, and this gentleman, uh, is no exception to that rule. I'm really excited to have this conversation today. We're gonna talk about his experience in the SAS, um, but more than that, security contracting, leading expeditions across the world, writing books, building businesses, and, you know, figuring out what life is all about and, um, and the meaning in experiences. So welcome to the podcast, Mark Dirran.
Blake, thanks for having me, mate. It's awesome to be here.
Mate, we're-- I'm excited to have this chat and, and thanks for making the time. I know you're a, a busy man, and at the start of the podcast, we all-- everyone gets a bit of an introduction. So, um, I'll, I'll, I'll share that now with the team and, and with you as well. So Mark Dirran is a former member of the Special Air Service Regiment who served
Episode notes
Mark Direen is a former member of the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) who served for 20 years in the Australian Army.
Mark enlisted in the Australian Army in 1993. After completing infantry training, he was posted to 1 RAR. While serving as an infantry sniper, he completed the demanding SASR selection process in 1997. Mark deployed on operations, including: Security operations during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, East Timor and five deployments to Afghanistan.
In 2007, while serving in Afghanistan, Mark was seriously wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED). Despite his injuries, he recovered and returned to operational service, completing further deployments.
In 2009, Mark worked as a security team leader at the Australian Embassy in Kabul, but later returned to the SAS to train new operators before deploying to Afghanistan once again. Mark spent almost two decades in Afghanistan, both with the SAS and as a security contractor and has a deep understanding of the people and culture.
After leaving the Army, Mark became an expedition guide leading remote expeditions in places such as Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, and Tasmania. He also founded a leadership and resilience business called Point Assist. Wrote the thought-provoking book What’s the Point?, and created a Whiskey company honouring the sacrifice and service of those he served with, naming it Dog Tag